South Florida Personal Injury Lawyers

 speeding car struck and killed two Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputies and injured another Wednesday as they tried to stop the vehicle, authorities said. The deputies were putting stop sticks on the roadway when the car struck them at about 1:45 a.m.The incident began as deputies were responding to a 911 call at about 1 a.m. from a Belle Glade woman who said she saw her neighbor’s 1990 gold Toyota Camry being stolen. Deputies spotted the vehicle traveling north on State Road 715 and pursued it.

While three patrol cars chased the vehicle, the two other deputies were in front of the pursuit setting up the stop sticks when they were struck. They died at the scene.

Another deputy in one of the pursuing vehicles suffered serious injuries. He was airlifted to St. Mary’s Hospital for treatment.

After the vehicle came to a stop, the two subjects ran from the vehicle into a nearby sugar-cane field, according to the sheriff’s office.

A massive search is currently under way.

“We believe we have (the subjects) contained, but it’s a very large area to search, thick and dense,” said Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.

The names of the deputies killed are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

A waste truck leaked poultry fat along 20 miles (32 kilometers) of roadway Tuesday, causing at least four crashes and making a stinky mess.Virginia State Police said a truck hauling a waste product of poultry grease from a Perdue Farms plant left a valve open, and the fat leaked onto U.S. Route 13 from the plant to the Maryland state line.

At least four crashes and several spinouts were reported Tuesday morning on northbound Route 13, Sgt. Joe Bunting. One injured person was taken to a hospital, he said.

Bunting described the consistency of the grease on the road as a “glassy film” and said crews were sanding the road surface to help drivers get traction.

However, the gunk was sticking to the tires and spreading onto secondary roads in the region. He added that the grease caused a “really funky” odor.

The truck’s driver was stopped at a weigh-in station near the Virginia-Maryland state line, Bunting said.

Perdue was sending a team to help with clean-up, Bunting said.

Julie DeYoung, a spokeswoman for Perdue Farms, said company officials were investigating the incident to determine how the spill happened. They believe the leak began sometime after the truck - which was driven by an independent driver - left the Accomac rendering plant.

DeYoung described the substance as poultry fat that is a byproduct of the rendering process.

A family in southeastern Wisconsin is finally getting closure, a year after their kids got severely sick after eating tainted spinach.A lawyer for Neil and Anne Grintjes (GRIN’-chiz) says they’ve reached a tentative agreement with four California companies involved in producing and packaging spinach.

Details of the settlement were secret, but in court documents filed last year, lawyers for the family asked for more than $75,000 plus court costs.

Attorney William Marler says his clients are pleased at the settlement, which still has to be approved by a judge.

The outbreak was traced to Natural Selection Foods. More than 200 people got sick and three people died, including a Manitowoc woman.

Is it just your imagination, or do many of your fellow motorists lack even a rudimentary grasp of traffic laws?

Well, if a test administered by GMAC Insurance is any indication, one in six people cruising our highways and byways — roughly 36 million licensed drivers — would flunk their driver’s test if they had to take it today. Based on the 2007 GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test, the state with the most road-going dummies is New York, while the most knowledgeable ones are in Idaho.

“The results were pretty eye-opening to us,” says Gary Kusumi, president and CEO of GMAC Insurance Personal Lines. “Not only did they indicate that there are wide differences in terms of state scores, but there were significant trends that demonstrated the general public might have forgotten must-know items from when they first took their driver’s test.”

“Two questions consistently sent respondents skidding into the weeds,” Kusumi noted. The first has to do with the correct action to take when approaching a steady yellow traffic light (answer: stop if it is safe to do so). A whopping 84 percent of respondents spun their wheels on that one. The next biggest puzzler had to do with the proper following distance from a car in front of you (answer: two seconds).

Also of interest from the GMAC Insurance test:

• Drivers 35 and older were more likely to pass
• Illinois, Georgia, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Massachusetts were the least knowledgeable states overall, with average scores under 75 percent
• Fifty-five percent of the respondents didn’t know how many feet before making a left or right turn to activate their turn signals
• The national average score was 77.1 percent

“We believe that the adoption of a uniform driver curriculum will significantly improve the driving skills of Americans,” said Adele Kristiansson, a spokesperson for the National Road Safety Foundation. “Some states do not require mandatory education for novice drivers, and some states require it,” adds Kristiansson. “My organization is concerned because driver education is an orphaned child and it’s suffering.”

The National Road Safety Foundation offers free programs to the public and was created in 1961 by Fraydun Manocherian, after two young friends were killed in automobile accidents in Westchester County, New York.

According to GMAC Insurance, 18 percent of respondents failed its National Driving Test in 2007, compared with 9 percent in 2006. The test can be taken online at gmacinsurance.com.

Doesn’t life seem more dangerous when you don’t check the optional insurance boxes on a rental car contract? Last week I watched in horror from the driver’s seat of my totally uninsured, shoestring-budget rental car as the rear quarter panel of a Crown Victoria lazily drifted almost to the skin of my precious rental’s fender at 65 mph on Florida’s Turnpike.

The near-sighted menace behind the wheel, a look-alike of the ‘Mr. Magoo’ cartoon character, forgot to use his turn signal and somehow couldn’t tell that he was about to crumple my rental car with half my worldly possessions in it, and reduce my modest writer’s lifestyle to Cup o’ Noodles and cardboard-box living for a while.

As I finished my multi-state journey on the streets of my little corner in New Jersey (where Mad Max could have been filmed), I started thinking about what lunacy everyday drivers have to deal with on the road these days. Here are the top 10 driving habits that drive me crazy, and probably get under your skin, too.

Tailgaters
We have enough problems with people breathing down our necks on supermarket lines, train ticket lines and (sometimes in my case) unemployment check lines. We don’t need them breathing down our necks on the highway, too.

I found this problem so bad in California (even when going 90 mph) that I thought drivers there had to attend tailgating school before they could obtain their driver’s license. My dad even had a bumper sticker made up: “You don’t need to tailgate — you can ride in my back seat.” So far there have been just two takers.

Road Rage
Spontaneous road-battles are the worst. When dealing with someone with road rage, suddenly you’re expected to dodge insults, trash and who-knows-what-else in a chariot battle right out of Ben Hur when all you wanted to do was hit the local Stop N’ Shop.

A slightly portly friend of mine with road rage recently got stuck in her sunroof trying to climb out of her car in order to hit someone with her shoe. Honestly. She got rid of her car shortly thereafter, swearing that she has too much road rage to be behind the wheel.

I say people with road rage should try stocking their CD players with the ‘Relaxing Sounds of Nature’ series and keep a carafe of chamomile tea on hand at all times.

Grooming While Driving
Has anybody actually met someone by exchanging glances on the road going 60 mph? It’s like a car is a dressing room for some people — people that need perfectly manicured hair and flawless skin at all times. I don’t know how impressed I’d be if someone swerved into me while primping in the vanity mirror. But maybe that’s just me. Maybe someone out there actually wants to have their insurance rates raised.

No Turn Signals
Have you noticed that there are two types of drivers that don’t use turn signals? There’s the bunch that don’t use their signals because they’re trying to be sneaky and grab the incredibly tight space in front of your car in bumper-to-bumper traffic. As if you won’t notice the minute-and-a-half of steering-wheel turning they’re doing to cock their tires at an extreme angle before they try and jump in front of you.

Then there’s those who just don’t seem to remember or care to use their signals, like the guy who veers into a turn in front of oncoming traffic and freaks everyone out at the intersection. For the latter, maybe driving a car simply just isn’t engaging enough to demand their attention like it should. They need more speed. They need more freedom. They should try riding a horse to work instead.

Slowpokes in the Fast Lane
Is there any simpler way to phrase it? “Keep right except to pass.” Some drivers just don’t get it. They just love that left lane, even when they’re rolling along 20 mph under the speed limit. Maybe they get nervous when cars whiz past their window. The left lane’s no-traffic shoulder may seem friendlier.

Also, it’s easier to see the scenery out the driver’s side window from the left lane, as there are no cars to block the view. Highway departments should develop something like a high-speed snowplow to come up behind these ‘pokers, and gently shove them over to the right.

Driving Greedy
About a year ago, I saw a driver so protective of his space behind a tractor trailer that, while maneuvering to keep someone else from merging, he actually impaled his bumper on the back of the truck. The truck pulled away and yanked the whole bumper off. And the other car jumped into the space anyway, rubbing some salt in the wound.

If you can’t help but be greedy for that car length or two, maybe a car with more relaxed acceleration is in order, like a vintage Yugo. You won’t have to worry about careening into other vehicles when you stab the gas.

The Multi-Lane Dash
Don’t you just love it when a car makes a desperate diagonal bee-line across three lanes for an exit? It’s like there’s going to be an epic 50 miles until the next chance to exit and turn around. Granted, in some remote places there actually could be 50 miles between exits, but in major metropolitan areas? Perhaps they just enjoy the thrill of cutting everybody off on the road at once.

Staggering Merge
You have to wonder if people had the same driver’s manual as you did. Maybe they got their license in a different age, one where you could get three-quarters of the questions wrong on a permit test and still be approved to drive a vehicle. That’s what I wonder when traffic gets hot and heavy and one lane is forced to merge with another. My book years ago talked of cars taking turns to form a staggered merge, one car from one lane going ahead, followed by one car from another lane.

The unwritten rule of the New York Tri-State area seems to be ’survival of the gutsiest.’ If you act like you’re crazy enough to smear your bumper all over another the side of another car, then you can go ahead. But you’ll still need to edge in and squeeze up to do it. Now I truly appreciate the day years ago my dad picked up a $300 beater car to be used exclusively in city traffic.

Meals on Wheels
My driver’s education instructor once ate a salad, utensils in either hand, while driving. He lowered the steering wheel as far as it would go and simply steered with his knees. Insane, you say? Absolutely. I think he wanted to give us a little scare after all the grief we’d put him through. What’s astonishing is all the people eating in their cars on their morning commutes. Frankly, hash brown grease and ketchup only coordinate with your suit and tie if you’re under 10.

Talkahaulic: The Cellular Phone User
Now that the 80’s are over, the whole rich and influential power-broker look with a cell phone attached to your ear is a tad passé. Do people really need to flaunt their handheld cellular phones as they steer with one hand nowadays? If drivers really want to broadcast “I’m-so-successful-and-busy-and-everybody-needs-to-do-business-with-me-even-when-I’m-driving,” why not hire an out-of-work actor to dress up as a personal assistant and furiously take notes for them as they drive? In addition to their cell phone, they can even put a fax machine, photocopier and coffee maker in the car so it looks like they’re bullish on wheels. Don’t forget an ironing board for the suit.

The family of two children who were struck by a sport-utility vehicle driven by a longtime local teacher have filed a lawsuit against her estate.Marsha Eppert, 63, Yorktown, suffered fatal injuries in the September 2006 accident along Delaware County Road 500-N that severely injured Jalyn Bird, at the time seven years old, and also hurt her brother, Jeffrey Bird Jr., then 10.

Authorities said Eppert, who taught in local schools for 40 years, was on her way to work at Royerton Elementary School on Sept. 21, 2006, when she was involved in what appeared to be a minor traffic accident at county roads 500-N and 450-W. The teacher’s SUV continued to travel eastward after that collision, however, careening through several yards before striking the Bird children as they waited for a school bus outside their home, then crashing into a tree.

In the days following the accident, investigators said they could not determine what had caused the teacher’s car to continue traveling after the initial collision until they had interviewed Eppert. However, she died a week after the accident in Methodist Hospital, Indianapolis, after undergoing surgery for internal injuries.

Jalyn Bird suffered two broken legs, a broken pelvis and injuries to her head, spleen and lungs, and spent five weeks in Methodist Hospital after the accident. Her brother was treated at Ball Memorial Hospital for a broken hand and two cracked vertebrae.

In a lawsuit filed this month in Delaware Circuit Court 3, the Bird family — the two children and their parents, Jeffrey Bird Sr. and April Bird — alleges both children suffered “severe and permanent injuries and impairment” as a result of Eppert’s “negligence and carelessness.”

The suit suggests Eppert failed to “take evasive action to avoid the collision” and was driving “while unreasonably limited by health and physical state.”

Named as defendants in the lawsuit are Eppert’s husband, J. Larry Eppert, and one of her sons, Ryan, identified as “co-personal representatives” of her estate.

In their lawsuit — filed by Indianapolis attorney D. Bruce Kehoe — the Birds request the case be heard by a jury. Judge Robert Barnet Jr. has not yet set a trial date.

All four people on board a small airplane were killed in a crash at the Faribault Municipal Airport, authorities said.Federal Aviation Administration investigators were to arrive Monday.

The four-seat plane burst into flames and scattered debris across the airfield when it crashed just off the runway around 3 p.m. Sunday.

“There’s very little left,” Faribault Police Chief Dan Collins said. Wind was gusting above 20 mph when the plane went down, but the cause of the crash hadn’t been determined, he said.

FAA spokesman Tony Molinaro said Sunday that officials had not been able to find a flight plan, so they were not sure where the plane came from or where it was headed. The FAA office in Minneapolis did not immediately respond to a message seeking additional information Monday.

The Cirrus SR22 plane was registered to Mayo Aviation in Aberdeen, S.D. Mayo Aviation has no connection to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, a clinic spokesman said. A person answering the phone at a Colorado-based company called Mayo Aviation said it also had no connection to the South Dakota company.

The remains of the victims were taken to the Ramsey County medical examiner’s office in St. Paul. No names were released.

A spokesman for the plane’s manufacturer, Cirrus Design Corp. of Duluth, declined to comment until after the FAA investigates.

Since 2002, the SR22 has been involved in 17 accidents resulting in 35 deaths, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Faribault is a town of 21,000 roughly 50 miles south of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

A cruise ship takes on water in the Antarctic and three more come quickly to the rescue: A blessing for the survivors, to be sure. But also an indication of a regional tourism boom that critics say threatens Antarctica’s delicate environment and puts passengers at grave risk.The 154 passengers and crew of the MS Explorer were all plucked safely from life rafts this weekend by a Norwegian cruise ship as their own vessel slid into the icy seas.

Tourism in the world’s southernmost continent has spiked in popularity, but there is little regulation of the lucrative industry. Now giant cruise ships have begun to arrive, and some experts fear catastrophic accidents and environmental damage.

“Under the environmental protocol of the Antarctic Treaty Secretariat, the whole of Antarctica is supposed to be a reserve,” said Jim Barnes, executive director of The Antarctic and Southern Ocean Coalition. “It’s supposed to be dedicated to science and to protect the wilderness and the environment.”

In the 1992-93 season, about 6,700 tourists visited the Antarctic, according to the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators. Last season, that had quadrupled to 29,530.

Seven countries have made territorial claims in Antarctica, but nobody recognizes them. In some cases, countries claim the same piece of the continent. So it’s rarely clear what authority is in charge.

The Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1959 with the aim of preventing military incursions in Antarctica. Its members meet each year and adopt recommendations, but there is no single authority to enforce them.

This has left the Antarctic tourism industry largely self-regulated.

The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators was founded by seven companies with the goal of promoting “safe and environmentally responsible” travel. The group now has 99 members, but there are tour groups working outside the association which may not follow its safety and environmental guidelines.

“Because of management principles that (the association) has put in place, we’ve managed environmental impact,” said Denise Landau, the association’s executive director. “The concern is that companies outside the membership are not playing with the rest of the operators.”

Toronto-based G.A.P. Adventures, the owner of the Explorer, is an association member. Passengers paid as much as US$14,000 (€9,450) for a suite on board the vessel during the 19-day cruise.

The ship was a relatively small 75 meters (246 feet), with a double hull billed by the company as “a go-anywhere ship for the go-anywhere traveler.”

But the Antarctic’s blinding sleet, fog, high winds and treacherous seas - even in the October-to-April summer when cruise ships flock to the area by the dozens - make sailing treacherous for even the most rugged vessel.

“If a ship like that can go down, it really should be a wake-up call about allowing vessels that are not ice-strengthened and do not have double hulls to go down there at all,” Barnes said.

Some experts were alarmed by a trip in January to Antarctic waters by the Golden Princess, a 210-meter (689-foot) cruise ship, carrying about 2,700 passengers and 1,120 crew.

A paper presented at the Antarctic Treaty’s last meeting called the Golden Princess, run by California-based Princess Cruises, the largest tourist vessel ever to operate in Antarctic waters.

“Although the vessel did not land passengers, it operated in poorly charted waters in areas of high environmental and scientific value,” the paper read. It recommended treaty members adopt measures barring large cruise ships from the Antarctic, but they have not done so.

Princess Cruises spokeswoman Julie Benson said the company has scheduled four more cruises - two in 2008 and two in 2009 - aboard the Star Princess, a ship the same size as the Golden Princess.

Benson acknowledged the cruise line does not use ice-strengthened ships in the region, but said it operates under the Antarctic Treaty system.

“We don’t believe that (ice-strengthening) is necessary because we cruise in the summer months when it’s relatively ice-free, and our ships transit only in open-water areas with very limited ice floes,” Benson said.

A man who officials said was driving at almost 300 mph at a racing park in Jupiter has died. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said Christopher Gould, 52, was pronounced dead at Moroso Motorsports Park where he was racing.Parachutes on the car failed to deploy when he was slowing down, forcing the driver to lose control. The car overturned several times, and Gould was thrown from the car.

Deputies said the man’s car reached speeds of about 270 mph before the crash. Authorities are investigating.

A Miami-Dade fire-rescue spokesman said two people are lucky to be alive after they escaped a small plane crash near the Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport without serious injuries.Lt. Eddy Ballester said the single-engine Cessna went down about 8 p.m. Sunday near the airport’s perimeter. Ballester said that when crews arrived at the scene, they found both occupants of the plane were uninjured.

The small plane crashed as it was making a landing, an airport official said. It crashed about a mile away.